OK, I'll bite. While reading the Brahms biography by Jan Swafford this past month, I played all the Brahms cds I have and even considered ordering more. As I kept reading, however, I wound up ordering the Marcello and Cimarosa Oboe Concertos, watching my video copy of "Immortal Beloved," and realizing that Schubert and Bach, along with Beethoven, were probably unsurpassable. Brahms knew this and I love his music because of his humility. I even played my cds of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," (the Karl Bohm live recording) to get into the 19th century, historical feud between The New German School and Brahms. Wagner was no slouch, but Brahms remains endearing to my sensibilities in recognizing artists cannot throw out the baby with the bathwater. Rosemary